Best gpu that will not be bottlenecked by this system?

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 09:42

Hey, I'm wanting to get the most out of my old PC and see if I can run skyrim on it.

This is the current rig:
E6420 @ 2.13Ghz
IL9 Pro
2 Gb RAM DDR2
Radeon x1950 Pro 256mb

Could I get a GT 240 or GT 440? Or would. the be bottlenecked?

I just want to get the max out of this rig so I can game with it as a back up for my new rig and for LAN. Planning to OC it before Christmas.

Any other tip would be great.

Thanks.

numatic.nathan · 6 Nov 2011 at 09:44

Whats your budget?

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 10:06

£60? But I figured any expensive gpu would be bottlenecked by the system any way?

ChrisD. · 6 Nov 2011 at 10:25

Second had 5850? I would up to 4GB of RAM as well.

PeterNem · 6 Nov 2011 at 10:25

I have a similar dilemma. Was going to build a new PC but given this is the only game I'll be playing (not really played a game sine Oblivion) decided it's not really worth it.

I currently have a Dell machine we use an an office PC which has a Core 2 Duo (2.7ish Ghz I think) and a HD 3450 GPU.

A few places have HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 cards for about £50-55. Seems like a good budget choice for an older computer. Takes all its power from the PCI-E slot and doesn't need an additional power connection so shouldn't have issues with low power OEM power supplies.

numatic.nathan · 6 Nov 2011 at 10:29

I bet you could get a 3GHz over clock with that CPU and a decnt £15 cooler and then this GPU isn't bad: Clicky

Or what about a 6770? They're £80 and good for the price, great for a LAN system

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:30

MilanoChris said:
Second had 5850? I would up to 4GB of RAM as well.

Thanks.Wouldn't that be bottlenecked by the CPU though?

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:33

MilanoChris said:
Second had 5850? I would up to 4GB of RAM as well.

PeterNem said:
A few places have HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 cards for about £50-55. Seems like a good budget choice for an older computer. Takes all its power from the PCI-E slot and doesn't need an additional power connection so shouldn't have issues with low power OEM power supplies.

I'll have a look, thanks.

ChrisD. · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:35

booey1 said:
Thanks.Wouldn't that be bottlenecked by the CPU though?

I wouldn't have thought so, the CPU is dual core and can do 3GHz+. When the 5850 was released, dual cores were more dominant in the market than quads.

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:37

numatic.nathan said:
Or what about a 6770? They're £80 and good for the price, great for a LAN system

Thanks for that. Any specific reason you say 6770 is good for LAN?

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:41

Okay, so 5650 or GTS 450? How much difference is there?

I'll see if I can go 4gb on ram.

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:41

MilanoChris said:
I wouldn't have thought so, the CPU is dual core and can do 3GHz+. When the 5850 was released, dual cores were more dominant in the market than quads.

Thanks

Marine-RX179 · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:42

booey1 said:
Thanks.Wouldn't that be bottlenecked by the CPU though?

For your CPU, anything at 9800GT/6670 or above will get bottlenecked, so no point spending more than necessary on a graphic card.

IF your motherboard would support the newer 775 CPU, may be you could pick up a 2nd hand E7xxx/E8xxx for £30~£40, and spend £40 more on a OcUK OEM 9800GT for £35, or 2nd hand GTS250/4850 for around £40?

ChrisD. · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:44

Marine-RX179 said:
For your CPU, anything at 9800GT/6670 or above will get bottlenecked, so no point spending more than necessary on a graphic card.

I'm interested to see evidence of this.

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 12:05

Hmm. Any clarification? I don't want to end up getting a new gpu that's bottlenecked at 60% of effectiveness.

Marine-RX179 · 6 Nov 2011 at 12:36

MilanoChris said:
I'm interested to see evidence of this.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/20873/2

Refer to the E6400. Dropping resolution and reducing graphic quality won't help if the CPU itself cannot deliver playable frame rate.

ChrisD. · 6 Nov 2011 at 12:44

I stand corrected then.

booey1 · 6 Nov 2011 at 15:00

Marine-RX179 said:
IF your motherboard would support the newer 775 CPU, may be you could pick up a 2nd hand E7xxx/E8xxx for £30~£40, and spend £40 more on a OcUK OEM 9800GT for £35, or 2nd hand GTS250/4850 for around £40?

Okay, so the IL9 Pro will support up to an e7200 @ 2.53ghz (can get 2nd hand for about £25). But would it not be better to OC the e6420 I already have?

freebooter · 6 Nov 2011 at 17:00

There is a thread on the Skyrim forums with the official specs and an unofficial guide to what you should expect from different cards. I am surprised how modest the requirements are but I suppose they are limited by consoles to some extent.

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.ph...-my-pc-run-skyrim-thread-50-w-hardware-guide/

PeterNem said:
this is the only game I'll be playing (not really played a game sine Oblivion)

Same here

The last game I played was Oblivion on an AthlonXP 2500 with AGP 6600GT. As long as I can run Skyrim and it doesn't look worse than Oblivion did I will be happy.

Marine-RX179 · 6 Nov 2011 at 17:02

booey1 said:
Okay, so the IL9 Pro will support up to an e7200 @ 2.53ghz (can get 2nd hand for about £25). But would it not be better to OC the e6420 I already have?

To be honest, it'll be best to go for at least a E8xxx, or a Q6600 CPU. Forget what I said about E7xxx...if you board would support it, it will be better to go with the Q6600 (if you can find one 2nd hand for £50 or less). But I'm not sure if you got a good enough CPU cooler or PSU.